The Little World

I view some modern NATO aircraft with trepidation – there are so many variants that every time I glue on a bomb or a tank, I’m sure it’s in the wrong place.

But what can you do in the absence of a concrete example parked at the local air museum? Well, you can start down the rabbit hole of the net looking for definitive schemes, or you can scout out hard cover books of photos. These are a speciality item that rarely make it to a local bookshop. By the time they do arrive the plane is often out of service anyway.

The best one can do is build to the kit plan and hope that the makers went out and measured a real one somewhere. I have stopped being costive over the whole thing – if it looks the part I am satisfied with the suggested scheme.

Note the multiple grey lines on this one – all real, and all put there individually. I do not fancy another one of the same ilk – I’ve got an F-16A that has a set of dead decals but there is no-way I am going to try those walkway lines with a bow-pen and diluted paint. Off to the net find something in dirty camo!